Keeping Up With the Kardashians season 18 review: Fights, family and old frenemies deliver the perfect distraction
The sisters are back, but a lot has changed...
America's most famous family, The Kardashians, are back on E! and Hulu for season 18 - can you believe it?!
It's 2020 and it's all change. Following on from the explosive 2019 series which saw Kim and Kourtney quite literally go head-to-head after that "least interesting to look at" comment, the girls are sadly still at war.
This season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians started a little differently, with Khloe dressed as Kris reading from a fairy tale book. OK...
And the bizarre happenings didn't stop there. One thing we see in season 18 is just how excessive every element of their lives has become. Kim and Khloe shared a trip to Barbados, before the former took her six-year-old daughter to Costa Rica for her sixth birthday, on North's request. Kylie celebrated her 22nd birthday travelling across Europe on a yacht - as you do - while Kourtney opted for an Italian escape.
All the girls are back to the day job, but it's Kourtney who finds slipping back into working life the most challenging, as she struggles to come to terms with the fact she won't have as much time on her hands away from the spotlight while she deals with Poosh, KUWTK and other general celebrity commitments.
Quickly, we see it's become an even larger issue for her as she starts to realise that filming just isn't an option for her any more. What's fascinating from a TV perspective is the production meetings start to take place in front of the camera, not behind, as Kourt demands she steps back from the show. Which other programme delivers this behind-the-scenes access in the midst of the on-camera drama?
In the background, Kim's at New York Fashion Week and just so happens to bump into Tristan Thompson - Khloe's baby daddy and all-round villain of KUWTK lore. But she finds a relaxed and friendly man who joins her for dinner - and later seems to have made his way back into the Kardashians' lives once more. While Khloe is - as ever - pretty cool about what's happening, it seems all of the sisters are ticking time bombs at the moment so don't be surprised if Khloe steps in and says her bit soon.
Meanwhile, Kylie has come down with a sickness, right in the middle of her Kylie Cosmetics X Balmain launch and she doesn't know whether she'll be able to close Olivier Rousteing's show in Paris; cue a panicked Kris calling all of her daughters to get them to fly to the French capital and stand-in - even offering Kim $400,000 and no commission. Kris, if you're still looking, hit us up!
But the real story comes at the end, when Khloe, Kendall, Kim and Kourtney gather in a room to discuss Kylie's sickness. Kim drops the bombshell that she and Khloe would drop anything for a work commitment, but Kendall and Kourtney couldn't do the same, and thus, the room erupts.
In a moment so dramatic it's almost Shakespearean (honest), Kim and Kourtney get into an actual physical fight, with arms and legs flying around all over the place. In all honesty, it's tough to watch, and it's going to be hard for the sisters to come back from this one.
And with Kourtney declaring on Twitter she is no longer a part of KUWTK, is this the end of the show that made the family so big?
Yes, it's not the most high-brow entertainment, but that's kind of the point. Having an insight into the Kardashian/Jenners' bizarre world is a good distraction from everything going on around us in the world and with the sisters growing further apart and all the drama that results, now is the right time to keep up.
Keeping up with the Kardashians season 18 will be available on hayu on Friday 27th March, and 29th March on E!
Authors
Helen Daly is the Associate Editor for Radio Times, overseeing new initiatives and commercial projects for the brand. She was previously Deputy TV Editor at a national publication. She has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Media & Journalism from Newcastle University.